A Mark to Realize
by GameLicker
Summary: Draco's careful calculation kept Eva from knowing his secret identity of being a Death Eater. Yet one mishap was all it took for those calculations to go down the drain.


Draco sighed as he left the Room of Requirement and made his way back to the Slytherin dorms. The damn cabinet still refused to work and the year was already half over. The Dark Lord was growing impatient with him. Two failed attempts already to kill Dumbledore. Three strikes and he was out.

Draco continued down the hallway, lost in his thoughts until he felt a pair of small arms slide around his waist. He turned around to see the face of his girlfriend, Eva, smiling back at him. The look she gave him melted his heart and worried him all at the same time.

Her life was also on the line because of his task. It was bad enough that the Dark Lord knew he was dating a blood traitor. The fact that she was a half-blood made it even worse.

Draco managed to shove the thoughts to the back of his mind. There was no use worrying about it anymore tonight. He took the Gryffindor girl into his arms and gave her a quick kiss before taking her hand to guide her to the astronomy tower. As they walked, she looked up at Draco with concern in her eyes.

"I'm worried about you." Of course she would be. He wasn't playing Quidditch anymore and barely getting any sleep. Draco knew she wasn't oblivious. She was bound to say something sometime. Problem was, he couldn't tell her who he became or what his mission was. It would only put her in more danger than she was already in.

So, Draco did the best thing he could do. Lie.

"I'm alright love" he said to her.

Eva sighed, knowing that there was no way she would get a truthful answer out of him. If she pushed the issue, he'd only get upset with her. She let the subject drop, hoping that the blonde Slytherin would tell her in due time.

The two finally made it to the top of the astronomy tower, where they spent the rest of the night, holding each other in worry.

Eva was sitting at the Gryffindor table with Ginny when Draco finally came into the Great Hall for lunch that afternoon. Spotting the blonde boy, she stood up to make her way to him right before he turned around and made his way out of the Great Hall.

Worry flooded Eva at the sudden panic that appeared into Draco's eyes when he stepped into the hall. As fast as he came in, he was gone. She followed behind him at a distance of a couple feet, staying as quiet as she could when she saw him enter the boys bathroom. She followed in, just entering through the doorway.

Draco tore his sweater off his shirt and threw it to the ground. He leaned over the dirty sink and gave looked himself in the mirror for a quick moment.

Eva watched as the boy she loved splashed water onto his face before he looked back at himself in the mirror. He had never looked so broken down before. He had dark bags under his eyes and his skin were sickly pale. Everything about him screamed he was unhealthy.

Draco began to cry as Eva came out of her hiding place. She ran up to him and rubbed his back as she tried to calm him with soothing words. She didn't know why Draco was crying. But the fact that he was crying at all meant his reason was bad. Draco never cried.

Before she could calm him down enough to lead him out of the bathroom, a voice came from behind the pair.

"I know what you did Malfoy."

The couple spun around to see the boy with glasses and a lightning scar standing only a few feet away from them. Harry Potter.

He looked back and forth between Eva and Draco before his eyes stopped on her frame.

"You should leave."

Eva stood next to Draco, hand on his arm, unmoving. She was about to retort with a "no way" before Draco spoke up.

"Please go."

Eva looked up at him, seeing the care in his eyes. It was for her safety. She looked back and forth at the the boys before reluctantly making her exit. It was quiet as she walked, nothing but the dripping of the faucet Draco had used only moments before. As she came close to the door, a large crack ran through the room. They were dueling.

Eva ran as fast as she could to Professor Snape. He knew what was best for Draco. If he got hurt Snape would know what to do.

She finally got to the potions classroom, bursting in while Snape was grading reports. Before he could scold her for knocking, Eva's panicked voice spoke.

"Draco and Harry are dueling."

Snape stood up quickly, following behind Eva down the halls.

"Where are they?" he asked.

"The boys bathroom" Eva said and pointed down the corridor. When they finally got to the bathroom, Snape stopped her outside.

"Wait here. You could get hurt." Eva did as she was told.

Not even sity seconds later did Harry Potter come rushing out on his own, He gave Eva a brief look of apology before disappearing down the halls.

With Harry gone Eva knew that she wouldn't be hit by any flying spells. She walked into the bathroom and heard sobs that could only be coming from Draco. These were the same sobs as earlier except slightly different. Anybody could tell these sobs were from pain rather than stress.

Eva walked around the sinks to come upon where Draco was lying down, covered in blood. Snape was at his side, muttering a counter-curse to whatever spell Harry had used.

She rushed to Draco, pulling his head into her lap. She stroked his hair in an effort to comfort him as Snape kept muttering his incantation.

Snape wasn't surprised to see Eva there. He knew about the relationship she and Draco held. Snape tried to keep his eye on her too. Eva wasn't in any way a threat to Draco but Draco was a threat to her. He didn't want her love for the foolish young Death Eater to end up getting her killed.

Snape and Eva had successfully managed to get Draco into the infirmary and into bed. Madam Pomfrey came rushing out at the sight of the bloodied boy.

"What happened?" she said, shakily at the sight of his bloodstained shirt.

"Bad hex" Eva said to her. Madam Pomfrey nodded at the statement and began to pull out all of the necessary options for recovery, commenting about her lack of pain reducing potions.

"I'll make a potion to help the pain" Snape replied before turning on his heel and leaving the infirmary. Eva stayed at Draco's side, stroking the hair on his unconscious form. Madam Pomfrey ran quickly back to her office before coming back to his bedside.

"You're his girlfriend right?" Madam Pomfrey questioned as she came rushing back. Eva nodded, wondering what the question was for.

"Mind switching him out? Those bloodstains will not be coming out." Madam Pomfrey held up a plain long sleeved white shirt.

With a quick mutter of "sure" Eva began to unbutton Draco's shirt as Madam Pomfrey went to write an owl to his parents.

Eva looked at the comatose figure of the boy she loved. It scared her to see him covered in blood and defenseless like this. She had never seen him this way. Never. Not when Potter beat him at Quidditch or even when Hermione punched him in the face.

Eva managed to get the shirt completely unbuttoned in no time. She slid one arm out of the shirt and pulled Draco up a bit to slide it underneath him. Eva pulled the other sleeve off and turned to grab the fresh article of clothing.

She began to dress him again before she got to the second arm and saw the black inked that stained his pale skin. She had completely missed it before. The realization dawned on her.

Draco was a Death Eater.

Thought's began running through her mind and suddenly everything made so much sense. The secrets, the stress, the lack of care for most things that were going on around him.

Draco was a Death Eater.

Eva took a large breath of air and tried to calm herself. Despite being scared she didn't want Madam Pomfrey to see the mark She finished redressing Eva before taking a quick look at Madam Pomfrey's office. Seeing that the old witch was still busy, she pulled up Draco's sleeve to look at the mark again.

A tear fell from her eye. Then another. Before she had the chance to wipe them away, she heard her name being called.

"Eva?"

Eva turned to look at the boy in the infirmary bed. Draco had come to and he was going back and forth between her eyes and the dark mark on his arm. His secret was exposed.

He sat up to try and say something to her but nothing came out of his mouth. What could he say to her? Draco knew that the dark mark scared her. He knew she lived in fear of the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord because of her heritage. She was a half-blood after all.

Eva shook her head back and forth, slowly backing away from the bed before Draco could allow himself to find the words he was looking for. A tear slid down his face at the realization that he himself scared her.

Draco watched as she ran out of the infirmary and away from him for what would turn out to be a very long time.


End file.
